A Fun Bit of Canadiana!

Hello again! I hope that all my Canadian readers had a wonderful Canada Day, and that my American friends are having a great time getting ready for the big Fourth of July holiday weekend! I had a very nice Canada Day. We attended the local parade and later in the evening watched the fireworks display with some friends. In between the events, however, we spent a nice amount of time just relaxing on the patio with good books and cups of coffee. It was pleasant to take a few hours to relax and do nothing, since we have been working on a project that has been keeping us busy and, for the most part, indoors.

We have been purging.

Our belongings, that is. This isn't the first time we've done this; I did a major purge before we moved out West over a year ago. But this time, we're being really, really ruthless. We've tossed stuff we swore we'd never get rid of! We have several boxes ready to go to the thrift store, in addition to a large box of garbage and a bankers box of papers to destroy. In addition to discarding items, we are also re-organizing and properly storing items that we are keeping, but won't be using on a regular basis. I'll post more on that later.

One of the really fun things about purging your stuff is that it's a bit like treasure hunting. We've recovered a lot of items that we thought were gone forever, as well as lots of stuff we are scratching our heads about. Do you ever stop to wonder why some of the stuff in your house ever got in in the first place? We discovered a collection of Pez dispensers. Pez dispensers! We're placing a lot of blame on Christmas stockings, those beloved dispensaries of "stuff".

Another discovery has actually made us $5.00 richer. That may not seem like a lot, but those familiar with what we found will appreciate that it could take quite a while to get $5.00 worth of it.

Canadian Tire Money is a cash bonus rewards program run by the Canadian Tire company. Every time you make a purchase at a Canadian Tire store, gas bar, or online store, you earn Canadian Tire money. You can read more about it here.

I enjoyed reading the facts listed in the article posted above. I could definitely relate to the point that, since it feels like real money (the coupons are produced using the same materials and processes as legal tender) customers don't throw it away. This is exactly how I came to be in possession of $5.00 worth.

Our collection began simply enough. Since moving to Northwestern BC, we shop at Canadian Tire a lot more than we did at home, so our cache of "money" built up fairly quickly. As we began to purge our belongings, we discovered more and more of the coupons. It got to be kind of funny; we would open an old wallet, or a book, or an envelope and there it would be. We even discovered a more unusual fifty cent coupon, which was a bit of a thrill. Apparently there are $1.00 and $2.00 coupons as well, but we haven't received one of those yet.

Watching our little pile of "money" grow made me happy and brought back other Canadian Tire money memories. I can remember that as a little girl with her first bright purple Cabbage Patch Kids purse, a note or two of Canadian Tire money made me feel very grown up indeed! Even as I got older, there was something about those brightly coloured, yet somewhat official looking bills that kept me from tossing them. Perhaps it was that "legal tender" feel, or maybe it was Sandy McTire's smiling eyes and jaunty tam-o-shanter, but something kept me stashing the notes away, only to be discovered many years later.

We're keeping our cash, at least for the time being. Right now we're making a game out of it; earlier today my husband noted that we were five cents short of $5.00. A few hours later, I triumphantly held up a ten cent note. We are going to build our pile for now, and then put the collected coupons toward a purchase.

Canadian Tire money is one of those uniquely Canadian things that warms my heart. And since yesterday was Canada Day, it seemed like the perfect time to share one of the quirkier pieces of Canadiana with you!

3 comments:

What a fun post...I had no idea. Growing up we had.green stamps, not really sure where we got them from but I remember using them to buy things at the green stamp shop. Can't wait to hear about how your new BBQ Grill works, have a great weekend,

I went through boxes of my father in law's stuff and found around $5 in Canadian Tire money as well. I love Canadian Tire! They have everything there. I collect Pez dispensers and have always loved them. I have been going through our stuff trying to purge a lot of it, but it's hard! Glad you had a good Canada Day. Thanks for stopping by my blog!